Blister packages are used to individually package a variety of different products. Blister packages typically comprise two pieces which are referred to as a blister on one side (e.g. a plastic carton often having a formed cavity to receive product) and a card on the other side (e.g. a panel of plastic, cardboard, or other suitable material and which is often planar).
Blister packaging machines such as those made by Alloyd Co., Inc are used to fully or substantially automate the process of forming blister packages. Using a blister packaging machine, the steps for forming a blister package typically include placing a blister in a nesting tray, placing product into the cavity in the blister, placing a card on the blister, fastening the card to the blister to enclose the product, and then outputting formed blister packages off the machine.
The common implementation of a blister packaging machine comprises a rotary turntable that rotates individual nesting trays through different stations along an endless circular path. There are two different types of blister packaging machines that are commercially available, including a six station blister packaging machine such as Model 6SC1216 made and sold by Alloyd Co., Inc. and an eight station blister packaging machine such as Model 8SC 1216 made and sold by Alloyd Co., Inc. Eight station blister packaging machines provide for more options and features for the blistering packaging process. However, to provide this additional room to accommodate additional features, eight station blister packaging machines have required a larger rotary turntable, which in turn requires a larger footprint in a manufacturing plant. Eight station machines also inherently include some extra expense to provide additional features and options.
Due to these space and cost drawbacks, many manufacturers often will purchase and employ six station blister packaging machines. In six station blister packaging machines, the available space is a lot tighter and it is more difficult to accomplish the necessary blister packaging operations on a single machine. As a result, some operations such as offloading formed blister packages from nesting trays and loading new blisters into nesting trays are performed at the same station. Because the formed blister packages are output off the rotary turntable to the outside of the machine, the blister packaging offloading operation and components are provided at the outside of the machine. As a result, the blister loading operation is performed at the inside of the machine. With this arrangement, the blister magazine, which holds individual blisters, is positioned on the inside of the machine toward the center of the turntable. Unfortunately, this requires workers to load the magazine from the inside of the machine. Therefore, temporary shutdown of the machine may be needed to refill the magazine. Further, because the load end of the magazine is facing toward the inside of the machine, this requires workers to lean over the rotary turntable to fill the blister magazine. These drawbacks have long existed without a suitable solution.